A Thousand Paper Cranes
by InweTiwele
Summary: [Narutocentric] If you fold a thousand paper cranes, your wish will be granted by the gods.


A/N: Hey there folks! I know I should really update my other stories, but I was making a paper crane when I came up with this sudden idea and voila! Here it is. I hope you enjoy reading this. Just a random little one shot again. I am still continuing the ongoing struggle of conquering my writer's bloc. Unfortunately, its a process in the works and like I said, ongoing. But I remembered the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes when I was making that and thus the inspiration for the ending. I hope we can all find a little piece of mind, not just for ourselves but a little more piece in the world. The words at the very end are the words inscribed on the monument to Sadako in Hiroshima.

Disclaimer: I, obviously, do not own Naruto.

* * *

A Thousand Paper Cranes

_If you fold a thousand paper cranes then you will be granted a wish by the gods._

* * *

Naruto sat in his room folding a piece of paper. He remembered the time when Sasuke had taught him how to make a paper crane. The jinchuuriki had been so excited. He had never had anyone teach him how to do origami before. His enthusiasm always overwhelmed Sasuke though, he knew that. His friend had been so impatient with him, but Sasuke's folds were all even and all perfect. The Uchiha's cranes were beautiful. 

Needless to say, Naruto had immediately been jealous. He had loudly proclaimed to his teammate that he would master the art of folding a paper crane. As usual, Sasuke had scoffed at him. What he had said to him after that declaration of 'war' never left Naruto's ears.

'_You need patience for origami, dobe, so you can see what you are doing and so you can see what is actually in front of you. Are you sure you have that patience?'_

He hated to admit it, but Sasuke had been right, in more ways than one. Yes, you needed patience for making that flawless bird out of paper, but you also needed patience in seeing people and being able to read people. It took time to see what was actually in front of one's face. Sasuke had been right; that _did _ take much more patience than a piece of paper did. That was why Naruto had begun to think when he started folding paper cranes that maybe Sasuke was better at seeing people as they were rather than for what people saw. Maybe the Uchiha had had the patience for that. Just maybe.

And that scared Naruto a little. It terrified him to think that Sasuke had been able to see through his façade so easily and with little effort. Maybe he knew just how lonely Naruto was, how desperate for acceptance he was. And just thinking that, made him look back on all the things he had learned about Sasuke just by reminiscing of the days when Team 7 had still been Team 7.

_Why_ hadn't he noticed? Sasuke probably had needed someone to notice his pain just as much as Naruto had needed someone to notice his own and he had been to blind to see it. And when he thought about what Sasuke had told him the day he had taught him how to make a crane, he mentally slapped himself for not realizing what his friend was actually trying to tell him.

If he had looked at him with a little more patience and taken the time to see Sasuke for who he was, would he have been able to have kept him in Konoha? Maybe, just maybe. But Naruto came to realize something upon his return to the village after his two years of training. When he walked through the gates after the second retrieval mission he took the time to try and see the village through Sasuke's eyes as a genin.

Naruto hadn't like what he saw, and then he started to understand. That night, when Naruto was alone, he slipped into the Uchiha compound. He had a feeling that Sasuke had stopped there before leaving. Well, Naruto was right.

When he walked through the door, he found a box on the floor. Inside were a thousand paper cranes, all folded so beautifully and so perfectly. Naruto knew exactly whose they were. No one but Sasuke could make pieces of paper look so beautiful. The jinchuuriki recalled something Iruka had mentioned to him about paper cranes when he found Naruto folding one. _'They say you'll be granted a wish by the gods in you fold a thousand paper cranes.'_

Naruto walked through the house that night and was shocked by what he saw. Paper cranes. Everywhere. Then he also realized, Sasuke wasn't just paranoid and a prick, he was obsessive compulsive. There had to be hundreds of cranes here. So why did he make all of them?

After Iruka told him about that legend, Naruto started making a thousand paper cranes with the hope that his wish would be answered. That he would get Sasuke to come home. That was his wish.

And while he made those cranes in between training, missions, breaks, and before sleeping he figured out what Sasuke's wish had been. That someone would finally notice just how much it hurt to be alone. That someone out there would come to understand. And Naruto was glad to say that the next time he saw that bastard he could say that he did understand. He understood a whole lot more than he had before. This time, Naruto could tell his best friend that he wasn't alone. He understood now and that he saw him for who he was.

Naruto smiled as he finished the crane. It was perfect, but it wasn't as perfect as Sasuke's cranes. He looked up at the ceiling where there was a cluster of two thousand paper cranes all made by his best friend. Naruto only had fifty left.

* * *

"_This is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the world."_


End file.
